A confidential draft United Nations report on violations against children has listed a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
The leaked blacklist reportedly named the coalition for killing and maiming children in Yemen, noting that it has put in place measures to improve child protection.
"In Yemen, the coalition's actions objectively led to the listing for the killing and maiming of children, with 683 child casualties attributed to this party, and, as a result of being responsible for 38 verified incidents, for attacks on schools and hospitals during 2016," the draft explanation of the blacklist said.
"The coalition is included in section B of Annex I, as it has put in place measures during the reporting period aimed at improving the protection of children," it added.
The U.N.'s 2016 report into violations against children named Saudi Arabia on the blacklist, only to be removed a few days later following pressure from Riyadh.
The report said that the Saudi-led alliance was accountable for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen in 2015 – a claim that Riyadh described as "wildly exaggerated".
Riyadh threatened to withdraw funding for the U.N. and urged its allies to do the same, causing the international body to backtrack on its report.
Rights groups have urged the U.N. put Saudi Arabia back on the blacklist for violating child rights in Yemen.
More than 10,000 people have been killed and 47,700 wounded since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to back the internationally-recognized government in March 2015.
The U.N. has called Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world".
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This article has been adapted from its original source.
